The first three Descendants movies were directed by Kenny Ortega. However, with the latest movie in the series, Descendants: The Rise of Red, Ortega has stepped aside, and the new director is Jennifer Phang. This film was also written by Sara Parriott, Josann McGibbon, and Dan Frey, and you can watch it now on Disney+, although I don’t recommend that you do. The Rise of Red stars Kylie Cantrall in the title role, Malia Baker as Chloe Charming, and Dara Reneé as Ursula’s younger sister, Uliana.
The movie starts with Uma explaining what has happened since the end of the third movie, and she introduces us to Princess Red, daughter of the Queen of Hearts. Uma, as the new principal, decides to invite Red to study at Auradon Prep.
When Red and her mother, Bridget, arrive at the school, they talk about how Bridget had been humiliated by a prank someone pulled on her at Castle Coming, the biggest event of their high school year. Red decides to go back in time to make sure the prank doesn’t happen, so her mother hopefully doesn’t become a tyrant in the future. But she accidentally takes Chloe, the daughter of Cinderella, along with her to the past.
This movie is overall pretty awful. The actors could’ve been better cast, and their decorations and costumes could’ve been better designed. Chloe’s wigs change drastically between scenes, in both length and volume, making it horrible to watch, because it’s clear that they just didn’t care enough to get her hair right.
It appears that every scene in the whole movie was shot in the same courtyard. The characters keep talking, all film long, about the big dance, where something major is supposed to happen, and yet we never see it. Why is this? Because it seems as though they spent their budget on useless things, and the movie has turned out horribly.
The actors’ performances are also not the best. Their emotional scenes don’t make the audience connect with them, mostly from their lack of acting skills. In fact, the only scene that is even a tiny bit emotional for the audience is in the beginning, where Uma talks with the fairy godmother about Carlos. The actress China Anne McClain does a great job with her role.
At first, this movie seems interesting, with some catchy songs, but once Red and Chloe go back in time, it all gets so boring. Some scenes are unnecessarily long, and others didn’t even need to be in the movie at all. The characters end up solving their problems very quickly, without explaining how everything has gone by so fast.
There are also a lot of continuity issues. During an early song, “Life is Sweeter”, the light and the sky are pink, but after the villains arrive on screen, the colors turn blue and dark. Throughout the song, the lights change drastically from blue to pink, from shot to shot, to the point that it all just stops making sense.
This movie is a musical comedy, with some elements of adventure. But when someone watches a musical, they don’t expect there to be a song every two minutes, to the point where you just get sick of them.
Some songs in The Rise of Red are better than others, but there are a lot of songs that are just unnecessary. There isn’t any comedy in this movie, and there are barely any jokes whatsoever.
The action and adventure scenes are similarly boring to watch. The final scene, where Red and Chloe fight for a cookbook, could’ve been better planned. When they go into combat against the villains, something important gets revealed, but at this point, nobody cares anymore.
Therefore, I just can’t recommend The Rise of Red to anyone, even if they are fans of the other Descendant movies. It is all very disappointing, especially since this movie had a budget that was way higher than the first three movies together. Despite this fact, they just couldn’t have made this movie any worse. You should definitely stay away from this film, and you should go back and watch the first three Descendant movies instead.
